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Foot and Paddle: Kids and the outdoors

14 mins read
Sunrise: Franklin County hayfield and bordering woods.

In a Time of Mud and Corona Virus

Here we are, well into mud season – and reconfiguring how to go about family life, and otherwise go through our days in meaningful ways, in a time of virus-compelled social distancing, frequent hand washing, and other cautionary measures. Children and youth normally would have multiple recess times in a school day, for moving about, running around, enjoying fresh air. The spring sport season would be revving up. Sign-ups for town recreation programs would be in full swing. How shall children and youth spend their newfound time ?

Living where we do in Maine, we have the countryside either out the back door, or not too far down the road. We live in a spectacular outdoor setting: the most forested state in the USA; the northern reach of the Appalachian Mountain chain; dozens of lakes and ponds, rivers and streams. Animals of the wild are a common sight. Western Maine is seasonal home to dozens of species of birds. We are home to some of the nation’s finest fishing waters. Might the peculiar time in which we find ourselves provide an opportunity to introduce our young people to the Maine outdoors, and thereby offer lessons they may carry with them for the rest of their lives?

A Childhood Walk

One particular childhood walk fixes in my memory. I am seven years old. My father calls to me for a walk with him on a day early in spring. The day is overcast, clouds roil overhead, the air chilly, a few snowflakes flying. Patches of snow linger on the hayfields and pasture near our New Hampshire home, and in the shade of the rock maple, white birch, fir, and pine, that border the fields.

It is hardly the ideal walking day, but such concerns are rarely those of a child. Even at seven years of age, I enjoy being outdoors year-round. My father’s invitation also means the chance for one-on-one time with him – quite special! My dad has a bad back, the result of breaking vertebrae in a fall from a hayloft on his grandfather’s Nova Scotia barn when he was 14 years old. He likes to walk, but is selective about when he can manage it. This day he feels well enough to go. My mother, too, would take my brothers or me for country walks. I have precious memories of many of those times. Because this one walk with my dad occurred at this time of year, I share this story now.

Snow-capped Mt. Blue.

We are off! Instead of out our dooryard to the road that runs by our farmhouse, as we often do, he chooses a cross-country route – into our hayfields, over to our neighbor’s pasture, and from there over a succession of fields that looks endless to me. We scramble over stone walls and through tree lines, open and close pasture gates, cross field after field, walking a great loop that, a few hours later, brings us back home.

I remember crows in the fields, black dots that take flight when we near, and complain: “caw-caw-caw!”; a wary, look at a Holstein bull who stares at us from the distant end of one pasture, but stays put; a certain wonder at seeing the backsides of farmhouses and barns, and the steeple of the village church, as we walk well away from the road along which they stand. I get to tromp through snow patches, break up ice on spring puddles, slosh through water. My dad talks of cloud formations and trees, stonewalls, and seasons; boosts me over a stile separating one field from another. I am having the time of my life.

Keep It Local

In recent days, on Franklin County back roads which I enjoy exploring on foot, and as I drive around, I see increasing numbers of families out for walks, at all times of the day. One friend tells me of taking his kids outside in the early evening, at the time of television news shows, to step away from the news, and give his children the gift of shared outdoor time. He says doing so helps them to settle for the evening, and to sleep better. They head to a nearby woods and a stream, look for signs of wildlife. He encourages the kids to watch and listen; they share their observations, discoveries, what changes day-to-day, week-to-week. What is different today? What is happening as winter turns to spring? Another family builds evening fires in a backyard fire pit. Bundled up, they sit in lawn chairs hauled out much earlier than would happen in a typical year. They watch the fire glow, wait for the stars to emerge, and tell stories, before heading indoors for the night.

On one of my recent walks I meet a mother with two young daughters, outside early in the cool morning, in a dooryard equally muddy as mine, where the girls stomp on pockets of shell ice. Crunch! They love this! When our own children were young, on rainy days we would go for “puddle walks”: dress for the weather, full permission to go for the mud holes. Even better is a water run-off day, when the snowmelt breaks up, and they (and we adults, too) would build small dams of snow or mud, watch the water build up and break through. Sometimes we would race sticks in these new watercourses. Much fun. Afterwards, come inside, dry off, have some hot chocolate.

One family I know holds “recess” twice a day! The kids start schoolwork after breakfast, and at mid-morning go outside – to walk in nearby woods, ride a bike, toss a ball around. Back to the studies, lunch, afternoon recess, maybe a nature walk to watch for birds, or identify trees.

Quick-running Brook, Weld.

Where to Go

There are countless nearby places in Franklin County to go for a walk. Of course, keep Social Distancing in mind, and go only where our current Stay Home directives allow. To my knowledge, leaving home for exercise, such as a walk, is allowable. If in doubt, check with your town authorities. You may live close enough to walk to some of my favorite easy (that is fairly level) walking trails: the Foothills Land Conservancy on the Pond Road in Wilton; the Whistle Stop Trail from West Farmington to Jay; the Sandy River interval near downtown Farmington; the Narrow Gauge railway bed in Carrabassett Valley; Cathedral Pines in Eustis; the many Rangeley Lakes Heritage Trust Trails that ring Rangeley Lake; and the Mt. Blue Road in Mt. Blue State Park.

First inclination may be to think of an established hiking trail, and we have plenty of those in Franklin County! My wife and I have been exploring little used back roads and farm lanes, where there is with limited, if any, traffic, many with long views, and all with adjoining woods to inspect.

For kids, the location of a walk doesn’t have to be exotic, or the distance, long. They simply enjoy being outside, discovering what there is to see and hear. In the backyard, not far down the street, or up the road, forest, field, and perhaps a brook, are not far away. Most everywhere in Franklin County a view to our Western Mountains awaits – Mt. Blue, Tumbledown Range, and the 4,000 foot-high peaks that stretch from Rangeley to the Bigelow Range. Discover as a family!

What waits to be discovered? Robins are now about, in large numbers. Doves have arrived, with their musical “coo, coo, coo”. Woodpeckers – pileated, hairy, downy, rattle away. Watch for these and other arriving birds – and the all-season birds: chickadee, blue jay, junco, nuthatch. Kids may count them, return home to sketch them, look up information about them, or simply talk about what about the birds catches their attention.

The same goes for trees. Kids may adopt a tree or two to watch over the coming days and weeks, as their trees of choice develop buds, then leaves. In the case of conifers – evergreens – watch for new growth at the tips of branches, appearance of cones, the differences in needles among pine, fir, spruce, hemlock, and others. Forest animals are moving at this time of year. On my country road walks I have see in recent days, a porcupine, deer, red squirrels, chipmunks; flushed out a grouse, and watched a bald eagle soar over a hayfield and perch nearly overhead. Over the years I have spotted bobcat, fisher, mink, and moose!

The morning following a spring snowfall or an overnight rain on a muddy back road mud, is an ideal time to spot animal tracks . Deer, wild turkey, snowshoe hare, and red fox, are common finds. Those discoveries may lead to hours of activity back home, as kids look up information to match track with animal, learn of the daily rhythms of wild creatures, make a scrapbook or slide show.

Outdoor Time as a Gift to Our Kids

One of the great gifts we adults may offer to our children is for them to know the outdoors as a place to inspire imagination, offer peace and quiet, and enjoy the benefit of simple exercise. Your outing may be to the mud puddles in your yard, to a tree in the neighborhood, out to a back pasture, to a quick-water stream o breaking free of winter ice; or to a foothills trail with high peak views.

In these unusual times, when familiar routines of our lives, and those of our children, no longer hold as they did only weeks ago, we have the opportunity to create new rhythms for our day and week. The woods, the fields, the waters, await. You can’t beat the price of admission.

In all activities, outdoors and indoors, please practice social-distancing; do a thorough hand wash after contact with surfaces touched by others; cough or sneeze into your sleeve, stay home if not feeling well, and follow all other COVID-19 directives, to keep yourself and others safe.

Who knows? One of these days outside, you may create a memory that your children will treasure for the rest of their lives.

Text and photos – Copyright Douglas Allan Dunlap 2020

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2 Comments

  1. Thank you Doug for yet another positive, focused outdoor article for the folks to be uplifted and encouraged to remain in the moment.
    Yesterday is gone forever, tomorrow is not predictable, all we have is this day, this hour, this moment. Mindfully accepting that we can manage our life for this one day at a time and the humble observation and gratitude for all we have recieved from our creator is the best medicine for the anxiety on display on the BD.
    Go in peace. Meditation is not what we think!

  2. I love this, Doug. And we are doing these things. Lots of wandering in the woods and by streams. Unfortunately, sometime soon, the trails will be loaded with people as they are in southern Maine. I really hope we can be good Covid 19 citizens and not put too much pressure on local parks and trails. If we do, they will close.

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